We're Off to See The Coast--Friday

Since our schedule was an hour ahead of the Washingtonians in our group, we were up and dressed and out on the beach waiting for them to finish getting ready for breakfast on Friday morning.







On our way to breakfast, we stopped for a few family pictures. If you have ever been to Seaside before, you'd recognize this turn around spot. Traffic was backed up a bit while we took pictures, but they didn't seem to mind too much. Can you believe my oldest two are almost as tall as me? Crazy.





We spent a couple of hours at the beach after breakfast before we had to check out. We had fun playing frisbee, digging in the sand, and searching for whole sand dollars.



We weren't successful with the whole sand dollars and all of the females in our family need to work on their frisbee skills, but it was an enjoyable way to spend the morning. Amy and Misha begged to play in the water. I finally relented saying, "Don't get wet. Roll up your pants!" Yeah, famous last words.





After checking out, we were waiting for Uncle Roger. I sat with the girls in the car watching this mom trying to corral two young children. She enthusiastically started to march down the sidewalk calling out in a sing-song voice, "March, March, March...." Squish. "Awwww, who let their dog poop on the sidewalk!" Hilarious.

The rest of the day was filled with sightseeing excursions. We visited Fort Clatsop which was the wintering quarters for Lewis and Clark in 1805.



Funny story with this orange mushroom. Misha saw it and asked what it was. The first words out of my mouth were, "It's orange poop." Kids are so impressionable, so I quickly told her I was kidding. But you have to admit, it does look like orange poop.



We drove down to Astoria and crossed the Astoria-Megler Bridge:

The Astoria-Megler Bridge is a continuous truss bridge that spans the mouth of the Columbia River between Astoria, Oregon and Point Ellice near Megler, Washington, in the United States. The span was the last segment of U.S. Route 101 between Olympia, Washington and Los Angeles, California. It is the longest continuous truss bridge in North America.

We then headed south toward Cape Disappointment to view the lighthouse there and then on to see the North Head Lighthouse. It was rather chilly at this lighthouse, rather indicative of a normal day at the coast.



Amy was a little miffed at her father. She was using one of the port-a-potties when Chris came up and starting banging on the door. He and Grandpa thought about trying to tip it, but thought better of that BAD, BAD, BAD idea.





The hike to the lighthouse at North Head was more strenuous though the weather was much more pleasant. We passed an amazing little inlet on the way.







It was time to head back to Grandma's house. We drove to a little town called Clatskanie in Oregon; dining options were limited so we finally decided upon the oddly-named "Hump's" for dinner. I'm pretty sure we went over some hills and through a lot of woods to get back to grandmother's house.

We're Off to See The Coast--Thursday

Chris and I woke to find our children already up and playing Grandma's Wii. Not sure what it was that made Grandma's Wii different, better, or more playable, except maybe the girls like having it on the main floor and not down in the basement as at our house. Grandma was up and about getting ready for work, Grandpa was already out the door, and Chris had meetings around 10:30 am. The plan was to drop the girls and I off at OMSI--Oregon Museum of Science and Industry--for a few hours while Chris had a number of different meetings in downtown Portland.



I tell ya, having a membership at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science has really paid off for us this year. We visited the Exploratorium in San Francisco earlier this year, we've been to special members-only nights here in Denver, and now we've been to OMSI. Having so many museums that have agreements with each other for free entrance has been pretty fun for our girls. When I asked Misha which museum she liked best, she replied, "I've never not liked a museum."

We arrived at OMSI just a little before lunch and decided to explore the Turbine Hall first. Click on the link to check out all of the fun activities my girls participated in. We could have probably spent our whole time there and realize now that we missed a lot in this exhibit.









Gotta love that picture of Misha.

We ventured over to the cafeteria after awhile. The selection wasn't stellar, but the girls were happy with pizza, and I had chicken tacos. After sorting all of our garbage, we headed upstairs to a smaller children area. Kristen thought it was great, but Amy and Misha were soon bored and headed over to an exhibit about the body.







We had four hours to spend at the museum and by the end we were running on low. It would have been fun to tour a submarine or watch some shows, but by the time we were ready for them, there just wasn't enough time left to start them. We did venture outside and walked along the river path for awhile.





Chris picked us up around 2:30 pm and we hurried to a bus stop a couple of miles away to meet up with Grandpa Ball who drives a city bus. Our girls have ridden the buses at the airport plenty often but no city buses, so this was a fun, new experience. And to have your grandpa as the bus driver? They stood up at the front holding onto hand rails and talking with grandpa when he made a stop. We rode with him until the end of his route. He gave us transfer tickets to get back to our car; he drove home to get ready to meet us at the coast later in the evening.





Just before we arrived back at our rental car, we passed this open field filled with goats eating and eating and eating. Love the sense of humor.



Our drive to the coast was fairly uneventful except for the road construction, and we were fortunate that it didn't slow us down too much. The trees that line the road were just magnificent. That is one of the things I remember the most about Oregon, it is so amazingly green and beautiful.

We stopped for dinner at Dooger's in Seaside. The last time we were in Seaside, we ate there and the halibut was delicious. I shared a large plate with Amy and Chris shared his plate of salmon with Misha. Kristen had her own plate of fish and chips. Nothing beats fresh fish. The stuff we get flown in here to Colorado doesn't compare one bit.

We stayed at the Worldmark Seaside hotel. It overlooked the beach. My girls would have loved it if I had let them bring swimsuits, but I figured October would be nasty for outdoor swimming. Well, the pool was heated, and did I already say the weather was great? Oh well, next time. Grandma and Grandpa joined us as well as Grandpa's brother, Uncle Roger.

We're Off to See The Coast-Wednesday

One of my favorite places in the world is the Oregon/Washington Coast. It is my happy place. And though you can't comfortably swim in the ocean, it is so amazing and picturesque and beautiful. I love it. Soooooo, when Chris had work in Portland the same weekend as his birthday as well as the same time the girls had a day off from school, we all jumped at the opportunity to take a plane ride. It was our third trip this year and we have all been to the West Coast to the East Coast and back to the West Coast. Fun times for sure.

I took Kristen to the restroom before we boarded our flight; when she was finished and washing her hands, she said, "A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do." Don't know where she comes up with such crazy things.

Our flight didn't leave until 9:10 pm. That part I wasn't looking forward to--it was past my girls' bed time, and I began to shut down then as well. My girls were so excited that there was little chance of them sleeping, though Misha tried to burrow in her chair after 11 pm and find a comfy spot. Last Christmas, I made all of the girls small lap blankets to keep in the car for cold weather days. The blankets never really made it permanently to the car because they've loved them so much. The blankets, however, were the perfect size for traveling. We finally landed around 11:15 pm local, picked up our rental car (we've gotten better about consolidating our luggage and clothing to fit a sedan since we never really wear everything we take), and headed off across the river to Vancouver. So nice that Grandma is only about ten minutes from the airport.

Chris and I got the girls situated in their beds, bid grandma goodnight, and zonked out on our pillows. Good night.

Jog-a-thon

Misha and Kristen both participated in the jog-a-thon at school this year. Kristen's kindergarten class had a small course to run, however, they still had to run 15 minutes straight. There weren't very many moments when Kristen wasn't running. She was fabulous and ran 16 laps. When Misha's 4th grade class got on the field, the course was enlarged, and her class ran for 20 minutes. Many of the 4th grade students had far less stamina than the kindergarten class. What does that say about kids these days? Misha did 14 laps on her course which was just under 2 miles. Way to go girls!

Kind Heart

Last night we started another round of swimming lessons for the girls. Kristen's lessons was first, followed by a combined class for Misha and Amy. While Misha and Amy were in their class, Kristen played with kids in the shallow area. Just before it was time to go, she decided that she wanted to try and get across the pool on the floating logs. She was a little timid; she'd stand in line and just when it was her turn she'd turn away and come to me for some moral support. She finally summoned the courage to try, and the little boy standing behind her waiting for his turn could tell that Kristen was having a hard time. He was only five or six himself. He bent down and pulled the first log right up to the edge of the pool so that Kristen could easily climb on. As she scootched across the log toward the next log, the little boy pushed the log Kristen was on close to the next log so that she could easily move to it. After transferring to the second log, Kristen was on her own. The third log was just a little too far for her to reach so she slid off the second log. Now, she's not a great swimmer. In fact, if she hadn't had a life jacket on, she would have gone under in two seconds flat. I was standing there trying to encourage her to now swim to the edge (because the rule is once you fall off the logs, you swim to the edge and climb out).

This gallant little boy jumped in the water (while two lifeguards sat up and took notice) and swam over to Kristen. She started swimming, and he swam along with her. Finally one of the lifeguards was on her feet (and you just know she's thinking, "Uggh, I don't want to get wet.") The little boy made it to the edge first and climbed out. The lifeguard bent down to his level and said, "You need to wait your turn before you jump in the pool!" ARE YOU KIDDING ME? He walked away, and I focused on encouraging Kristen to get to the edge of the pool. Both the lifeguard and I pulled her out. I ran back to my chair to grab Kristen's towel and noticed this little boy standing by the side of the pool with tears running down his cheeks. His Dad was standing next to the lifeguard, apparently reaming her out for crushing a little kid. I bent down and whispered in his ear, "You did a good thing."

Now I understand the importance of rules at the pool. They are there for our safety and protection. But you had to be oblivious to not see the selflessness of this little boy's act. I think the lifeguard certainly could have handled the situation in a much more tactful way. I, however, chose to be grateful for one little boy who cared.

Fritzler Corn Maize

We purchased some discount tickets off of the Groupon site to Fritzler Corn Maize in La Salle. It is approximately 25 to 30 minutes from our house and offers corn mazes and a variety of activities for children. Since our tickets expired at the end of October, we wanted to go on a day when the weather was nice enough to enjoy the experience. I'm not positive about Chris, but it was the first time to a corn maze for the girls in this family. We arrive to find a beautiful grassy area surrounded by different activities: a giant dragon that you walk through in darkness, helicopter rides, barrel train rides, corn and pumpkin cannon shoots, hay climbing, 4x4 bike riding, and jumping pads.

We all thought the 4x4 bikes were pretty fun. Kristen rode with me for a couple of rounds, but due to the shortness of my legs, she ended up sitting on my right leg as I pedaled. Talk about a work out. Chris traded me places, moved the seat back, and it was just perfect for the two of them. All of us had a blast.





Since we only had one adult combo ticket for the extra activities, Chris and I traded off. He went next with the girls on to the jumping pad.



The girls and I ventured into the inflated dragon.



We stopped off next at a large corn-filled sand box. What do you call it when you get a kernel of corn in your ear? First they buried Kristen, then Misha, then Amy, and finally Chris. They had corn down their shirts, in their pants, in Chris' wallet, everywhere. There was even a little boy who thought our antics were more fun than playing in the corn by himself and helped in the burying.











From here, we stepped into phase 1 of the maze. We had five checkpoints to find. Amy kept venturing off on her own but we always seemed to meet up again. We were pretty thirsty when we finally finished the first phase. It was a good thing we made it to the end when we did. I don't think they would have appreciated having Kristen make a potty-stop in the maze! Chris bought some bottled water while I hurried Kristen off to the bathrooms.









Chris and Amy and Misha ventured into a 3-D maze while Kristen pumped water into a tube for a duck race. We waited next to the barrel train ride for the three of them to emerge. My turn for a ride while Chris snapped a few pictures. Kristen really got into the ride and would hold her arms up in the air and scream as we went over some small hills. The girl in front of her asked her to stop screaming, but I told Kristen she could ignore her and scream all she wanted.



The girls were excited to climb on the "hay mountain". If I say a bunch of hay bales stacked up, you can imagine pretty well what it looked like probably.









Our next stop was the corn and pumpkin cannons. The girls all got to shoot three corn cobs at a target and Chris opted for the mighty cannon for his small pumpkin.



We were ready to start phase 2--stations 6 through 10. At each station, you were given a clue to help you to choose whether to go left or right. My theory that you should turn right at every fork in the corn (Hah) proved true for that station. After that, we just kept looking, backtracking, and avoiding dead ends to find the next clue. Finally, with a little help from a "Corn Cop", we found the 9th station and it didn't take us too long after that to find the tenth one and be done. It was a lot of fun and surely there are some important life lessons to be taught.

Amy and Chris texting

Amy rushed out the door last Friday morning forgetting to collect the lunch she had just asked me to finish packing for her. I said to Chris, "I hope she thinks to just buy lunch." She doesn't have a cell phone, nor will she likely have one any time soon, but she found a friend's to borrow and conversed back and forth with her dad. When she asked if I would bring her lunch, he texted, "Just buy it." Her response back, "I'm aloud to?" (Guess we need to work on spelling some more). Anyway, after a number of texts back and forth, Chris said she needed her lunch and her volleyball uniform. I hurried to drop them off before picking Kristen up from kindergarten. When I arrived back home, Chris said to me, "I misunderstood. She needed her volleyball form not her uniform." AAAGGGHGH, one more trip to the school! The lady at the front desk got a laugh out of it though.

Lunch with Grandpa Kline

Grandpa Kline had a layover in Denver Friday afternoon, so Chris and I picked up Kristen from kindergarten and headed off to the airport--or at least close to it. We enjoyed a quick lunch of chicken tortilla soup (mmmmm) at the hotel restaurant. Gr. Kline had to lobby (be ready to go) at 1:00 pm, so we didn't have a lot of time together, but it was nice to see him and chat over lunch. Kristen was especially excited that she got to go without her sisters, and made a point of letting them know she was going and they weren't. Amy begged for us to sign her out for the afternoon so that she could come with us, but after missing almost three days of school last week with a flu bug, we said no. Boo for her.

Kristen made a funny comment on the way home and when she said it, I thought, "I should write that down so I remember it." I didn't and now I don't remember it. But for those who are fans of the funny things Kristen says, please note that she did say something funny on Friday afternoon.